NEWARK
– Attorney General Peter
C. Harvey and Division on Civil
Rights Director J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo
announced today the filing of
an amended discrimination complaint
against Regal Entertainment Group,
one of the nation’s largest
multiplex theater companies, for
failing to install technology
that would provide access to first-run
movies for deaf and hard of hearing
patrons, as well as for the blind
and visually impaired.

According to Harvey, the amended
complaint contains a new accusation
that Regal has violated the New
Jersey Law Against Discrimination
(LAD) by not installing the DVS
Technical System, a system that
delivers narration for the blind
and visually-impaired enabling
them to better follow the action
of a movie. DVS provides narrative
descriptions through infrared
listening systems, which the blind
and visually impaired hear through
audio headsets. Harvey said the
descriptions heard by DVS users
provide information about key
visual aspects of films –
for example, action settings and
scene changes -- and therefore
make the movie experience more
meaningful for those with vision
loss.

In addition to citing Regal for
not installing DVS, the amended
complaint reiterates an accusation
from the State’s original
complaint, filed in 2004 (see
9/15/04 press release), that
Tennessee-based Regal has violated
the LAD by failing to install certain
captioning systems – Open
Caption Projection or Rear Window
Captioning -- that would allow the
deaf and hard of hearing to enjoy
first-run movies.

“Every
adult and child -- regardless
of his or her ability or disability
-- should be able to fully enjoy
the experience of going to the
theater and experiencing a first-run
film,” said Attorney General
Harvey. “Movies are not
only fun, they provide an important
shared reference point in American
culture, and are often the common
thread that brings people together.
For too long, this area of our
popular culture has been virtually
closed to the deaf and hard of
hearing, the blind and the visually
impaired, but we are committed
to changing that.”

In September 2004, the Attorney
General’s Office and the
Division
on Civil Rights reached voluntary
settlement agreements with four
major multiplex theater chains
operating in New Jersey regarding
the installation of new deaf captioning
technology. Under terms of the
settlement agreements, American
Multi-Cinema (AMC), Loews Cineplex
Theaters, Clearview Cinemas and
National Amusements agreed to
either equip their theaters with
new captioning technology or,
in multiplexes where the technology
was already installed, to expand
the number of screens offering
such captioning. In each case,
the four participating theater
chains chose a form of closed
captioning known as Rear Window
Captioning, although the Attorney
General’s Office has made
plain that it views either Rear
Window Captioning or another approach,
known as Open Caption Projection,
as “reasonable” accommodations
for the deaf and hard of hearing,
and has no preference.

According to Attorney General
Harvey, the current estimated
cost of installing Open Caption
Projection equipment is about
$12,500 per screen, while the
estimated cost for Rear Window
Captioning is about $10,000 per
screen. The estimated cost of
installing a DVS system is about
$2,000.

Three
of the four participating theater
chains – AMC, Clearview,
and National Amusements -- have
also formally agreed to install
DVS technology to accommodate
the blind and visually impaired,
said Division on Civil Rights
Director Vespa-Papaleo. Regal
has declined to install DVS, and
has also refused to install Rear
Window Captioning or Open Caption
Projection to accommodate the
deaf, apparently preferring to
utilize a form of deaf captioning
known commonly as ordinary “open
captioning.”

Vespa-Papaleo said that the common
type of open captioned films are
unsatisfactorily limited in terms
of providing the disabled “reasonable”
accommodations. He said this common
type of open captioning requires
the captioning to be burned onto
an individual reel of film, a
process that is labor intensive
and can take weeks, or even months,
after the initial distribution
of a movie. Because of the time-consuming
process involved, Vespa-Papaleo
explained, the deaf and hard of
hearing must wait for extended
periods after the initial run
of a movie to view open-captioned
films. Even when an open-captioned
feature is shown in theaters,
the Director explained, the film
is usually screened only at occasional
showings, and not during prime-time
movie-going hours (for example,
Friday and Saturday evenings).
In addition, Vespa-Papaleo noted,
there are typically a limited
number of open-captioned film
reels distributed throughout the
nation. As a result, there may
often be only one or two open-captioned
copies of popular movies available
per state.

“By
contrast, a significant -- and
growing -- number of first-run
movies are being made which are
compatible with Rear Window Captioning,
Open Caption Projection and DVS
technologies,” said Vespa-Papaleo.
“Having these systems in
place enables theaters to genuinely
accommodate those with hearing
loss or vision loss by enabling
them to enjoy first-run movies
during prime-time movie-going
hours, just as everyone else does.
Now for many people, they can
attend first-run movies during
peak times with their families
and friends.”

“Our
position is that Rear Window Captioning,
Open Caption Projection and DVS
are reasonable accommodations
under the Law Against Discrimination,”
said Harvey. “We believe
they do not impose an undue burden
on theater owners, because they
are not exceedingly costly, nor
do they require fundamental physical
alterations. To their credit,
other major theater companies
operating in New Jersey already
have their deaf captioning and
DVS systems up and running.”

AMC, Clearview and National Amusements
currently have their Rear Window
Captioning systems in place and
operational, as well as DVS Technical
Systems to accommodate blind and
vision-impaired patrons. Loew’s,
the largest of the four theater
chains to reach settlement with
the State, was provided a more
extended installation period,
and is expected to have its Rear
Window Captioning systems up and
running in all theaters by April
1.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Harvey
said the State is vigorously pursuing
the litigation aimed at having
Regal install new deaf captioning
and DVS systems. In the coming
months, he said, the State will
seek deposition testimony from
high-ranking Regal officials,
and will be submitting a request
for an extensive array of corporate
documents.

Vito DeSantis, Executive Director
of the New Jersey Commission for
the Blind and Visually Impaired,
said the State’s amended
complaint against Regal on behalf
of those with vision loss is very
important to furthering the cause
of equal access for the disabled.

“This
is a tremendous opportunity for
blind and visually impaired people
to have the same enjoyment from
going to the movies as sighted
people have,” said DeSantis,
who has personally used the DVS
system in New Jersey theaters
since the recent settlement with
several theater chains.

According to the most recent United
States census, there are about
243,000 visually impaired persons
living in New Jersey, approximately
39,000 persons who are legally
blind, and about 8,000 who are
totally blind. In addition, about
9 percent of the State’s
8-million-plus residents have
some degree of hearing loss. Attorney
General Harvey said the numbers
suggest a significant cross-section
of New Jerseyans with some degree
of vision or hearing loss. He
said their disabilities need not
stand in the way of them joining
others in the experience of watching
a first-run movie in a neighborhood
theater.

“Movie theaters are places
of public accommodation and, under
the Law Against Discrimination,
those who own and operate such
theaters have a duty to reasonably
accommodate people with disabilities,“
said Harvey. “Our commitment
is to make certain they do just
that.”

Copies of the Regal complaint,
copies of Consent Orders memorializing
the settlements with AMC, Clearview,
Loew’s and National Amusements,
and other information pertaining
to the State’s movie theater
access initiative can be viewed
on the Division on Civil Rights
Web site at www.njcivilrights.org
.